Leverkusen/Leipzig – Last season, RB Leipzig’s two 2:3 defeats against Bayer Leverkusen were also lessons in the German champions’ dominance in terms of play. Coach Marco Rose also lost against Xabi Alonso, especially in the return match, because he had no means of reacting to Alonso’s changes.
Rose: “Leverkusen is still showing us something”
In Leipzig’s 3-2 revenge match on Saturday, it looked for 45 minutes as if the match was heading in a very similar direction. The speed and enthusiasm with which Leverkusen took Leipzig apart, such as in the cat-and-mouse game before the 2-0 (45th minute), was a class difference.
“We have seen many things that we want to improve – in the way we play, against and with the ball, in terms of game activity – Leverkusen is also showing us something when you see the dynamism with which they come down the wings,” admitted coach Marco Rose.
Read here: Twice through the suspenders – individual reviews and grades
Rose stuck to his plan
But the coach was notable for not throwing the plan out the window after the sobering first 45 minutes, but simply sharpening it – the foundation for victory. Rose had prescribed his team “a different approach, a certain man-orientation” in order to “not let Granit Xhaka and Co. get going” and thus get into the game themselves. “But if you only train like this for a week, you don’t always find the right fit,” he admitted.
RB played with a five-man defense and sacrificed an offensive player, but had a special guard for Victor Boniface in the 1.96-meter giant El Chadaille Bitshiabu and attacked the Leverkusen center players with Amadou Haidara and later Nicolas Seiwald and Kevin Kampl. “Things can go differently here,” said Rose honestly. “But we pointed out in the dressing room that our plan is good and works, we just need to implement it a bit more consistently and with more play.”
Read here: Leipzig’s reactions to the 3-2 coup in Leverkusen
Access in the second half
In the second half, Rasenballsport suddenly won more balls, had access, conceded far less, had more space themselves, broke Leverkusen’s overwhelming dominance, gained more control of the game and, above all, counterattacked, which Lois Openda finished off impressively coolly. Leverkusen’s fabulous series ended in this way, partly because Leipzig’s match plan was successful at the second attempt. Incidentally, Leipzig now has the longest series in the Bundesliga with 13 games without defeat.
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